These glazed carrots are tender carrot coins simmered in a mixture of brown sugar and butter and topped with a sprinkling of parsley. An easy and inexpensive side dish that’s perfect for a holiday meal or an everyday dinner.
My kids love carrots, especially honey roasted carrots and candied carrots. We also really enjoy simple glazed carrots which take just minutes to put together. This is one of my go-to side dishes!
I always keep a bag of carrots in my fridge. They’re inexpensive, stay fresh for weeks, and you can do so many things with them! One of my favorite ways to prepare carrots is this easy glazed carrots recipe. All you need is 5 ingredients and about 15 minutes and they’re ready to be served.
How do you make glazed carrots?
The first step is to peel and cut your carrots. I typically cut my carrots into slices, but if you’d rather cut them into sticks that’s fine too. You can also use a bag of peeled and cut baby carrots. The carrots simmer in water until tender, then brown sugar, butter and salt go into the pan. Add a bit of parsley if you like, then serve.
Tips for glazed carrots
- Make sure your carrots are cut into uniformly sized pieces so that they cook at the same rate.
- You can substitute honey or maple syrup for the brown sugar.
- I like to add a sprinkling of parsley on top for color, but that’s an optional step.
- You can cut and peel your carrots up to 3 days before you plan to make this recipe.
- Want a hands off approach to glazed carrots? Try my slow cooker glazed carrots.
What are the health benefits of carrots?
Carrots are a super healthy vegetable. Carrots are loaded with fiber, Vitamin K, beta-carotene, and antioxidants. Carrots are also thought to improve your vision, prevent certain types of cancer, slow down the aging process and they also help prevent infection.
These glazed carrots are always on our Thanksgiving table because they’re just so easy to make and it’s one of the few veggie dishes that my kids will happily devour. You could even dress this recipe up for the holidays by using some rainbow colored carrots in shades of purple, yellow, red and white. Rainbow carrots are becoming more and more popular and are now more readily available at most grocery stores.
Whether you choose to serve glazed carrots for a special holiday dinner or serve them alongside a simple roasted chicken on a busy weeknight, this dish is sure to be welcomed by all.
More side dish ideas
- Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Stovetop Mac and Cheese
- Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
- Parmesan Zucchini
- Garlic Butter Mushrooms
Glazed Carrots Video
Glazed Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Place the carrots in a large pan and add 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring the carrots to a simmer
- Cook for 8-10 minutes or until carrots are tender. Drain off any excess water.
- Add the butter, brown sugar and salt to the pan. Stir to coat the carrots.
- Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a sauce has formed.
- Sprinkle with parsley if desired, then serve.
Pamela S Mortell says
can you make up day before and heat in oven?
Sara says
Yes that’s fine!
Pam says
Delicious and easy! I, too, followed the recipe exactly. Everyone loved the carrots and couldn’t wait for me to make them again!
Tina says
Followed recipe exactly and they turned out wonderful. Thank you.
Linda says
Awesome recipe! I don’t do sugar at all–diabetes. How much honey should I use? Thanks.
Sara says
2 tablespoons of honey!
Kathryn says
As a diabetes educator, I hate to tell you that there’s no difference in the glucose reaction from sugar or from honey.
Karen says
My go to recipe as I always have carrots and the whole family loves this recipe!
Patti says
Foolproof recipe for delicious glazed carrots. Very easy to keep an eye on these while preparing other Christmas side dishes and they came out perfect!
Sara says
I found that my carrots weren’t cooked enough with the amount of time specified. Not sure if I did something wrong or if I didn’t have the element high enough but once I did get them cooked they were amazing!!
Liam says
The same with me. A simmer is not a full boil right? It took about twice as long to cook on a simmer with the lid on! What did I do wrong?
Sara says
It should not be at a full boil. It does depend on the size of your carrots, sometimes if you start with larger carrots the slices end up bigger than average which can increase the cook time.
Julie says
I only made one serving for myself last night. I always think I need a green vegetable at dinner, but only had carrots in the crisper, which I love and are just as nutritious. I added 1/4 t. each of powdered ginger and dry mustard for a little extra zing. Delicious and luxurious!
Brandi Frey says
Delicious!!!! Perfect side dish for those extra thanksgiving carrots.
Chris says
I add chicken stock to the final glaze in place of water. Great recipe!
Detra says
I used your recipe, instead of adding water, I used 1/4 cup of orange juice , cooked carrots in the oven. Loved the crunchy taste. My husband is a chef, he loved it. Simple recipe. Thank you
G.b says
Did you use the same measurements for everything else? The recipe called for 1-5 cups of water and you only used a 1/4 cup? I want to make these for thanksgiving and I’m trying to find a good recipe. Tia!